CMS head football coach part of D-III All-Star Team coaching staff for game in Mexico

Coach Sweeney (Photo by John Valenzuela)

Dec 17, 2013

MONTERREY, Mex. – Head coach Kyle Sweeney of the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps football team is one of six NCAA Division III coaches selected to the coaching staff of Team Stars and Stripes for the fifth annual Tazón de Estrellas (Bowl of the Stars). The all-star team consisting of 51 seniors from 25 NCAA Division III non-scholarship football programs will face Mexico's CONADEIP All-Stars in the 36,000-capacity Estadio Tecnológico on the Tec de Monterrey campus on Saturday, Dec. 21, with kickoff set for 1 p.m. CST. Team Stars and Stripes is 2-2 all-time in the game, winning 32-15 in 2012.

Coach Sweeney is one of three defensive coaches for Team Stars and Stripes. He also will coach the wide receivers. As head coach for the Stags, Sweeney serves as the defensive coordinator. Prior to coming to CMS, Sweeney served as the defensive coordinator for the University of Chicago.

"Team Stars & Stripes Player Personnel Director John Roslien and head coach Don DeWaard have put together a coaching staff that will bring the best out of the squad from the handful of practices at their disposal," said Patrick Steenberge, President of Global Football, joint organizer of the Tazón de Estrellas. "We have worked with some top coaches over the years and look forward to a very special experience with this group while we are in Mexico next month."

Practice for the Tazón de Estrellas began on Dec. 15 in Monterrey. The team is scheduled to go through two-a-day practices leading up to the game against Mexico's CONADEIP All-Stars. Mexico's CONADEIP All-Star team is comprised of players from private colleges and universities in Mexico.

Away from the practice field, players and coaches will have the opportunity to explore the region and will participate in a community service project. In 2012, the traveling group helped clear an area of land to benefit an impoverished neighborhood to make it more suitable as a play area for the community's children, and then held a football clinic for local youth.

Over the years, three current NFL stars - Pro Bowl linebacker London Fletcher (John Carroll University) of the Washington Redskins, Buffalo Bills running back Fred Jackson (Coe College) and Miami Dolphins linebacker Jason Trusnik (Ohio Northern) - played in the Aztec Bowl predecessor of the Tazón de Estrellas.

About The Tazón de Estrellas and Global Football Foundation
The Tazón de Estrellas is the focal point for the Global Football Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit initiative, which assists athletes in meeting the expenses associated with traveling overseas to realize their dreams of competing against other American football enthusiasts and experiencing different cultures. The foundation allows potential benefactors to make charitable donations to offset costs that might otherwise prevent the student athletes from undertaking the trip of a lifetime.